Playing Catch Up

Written:
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
En Route Miami to Savannah
10:40pm – 12:05am

Plane, Van, Boat

I arrived Miami at 2:30pm Monday. The car service was there at baggage claim to help me with my luggage. However, another driver was picking me up and misunderstood the baggage boy as to where exactly I was waiting. He finally found me at 4:15 and to the Port of Miami we went.

When we got to Oceania’s port at 5pm, driver man wasn’t exactly sure where to take me. After some confusion at crew gate and with the port authority, I was escorted onto the Marina by “sa-curity” (Bon Qui Qui). Apparently, I’m not labeled as “crew” but rather as a “non-paying guest.” Oh. No one told me that.

I was given my room key after handing over my passport, which felt more like handing over my freedom pass. I didn’t know that you didn’t need a passport to get on and off a cruise ship in other countries. I guess they hold it for safe-keeping until it’s time for me to disembark in July.

My room number is 7088 which is located in the guest quarters, rather than crew quarters, on the port side of the ship, one floor above the life boats. It has two twin beds about 2 inches apart from each other, and not much room to separate them any more than that. I wonder if 2 inches is far enough apart for people who really want separate beds. Last night, I chose to stake my claim on both. Pushed them together and even used all 4 pillows, plus my own pillow and Paoli I brought from home. Big shock, I know. Back to the room. A sliding glass door opens to a private balcony that’s larger than my apartment balcony in San Francisco. Looking straight down from the balcony, you see right into the life boats, which is pretty comforting. If it comes down to it, I can jump right off the balcony and land in one. It has 2 chairs with removable cushions and a side table. Really quite nice. The full sized couch is pretty stiff but still nice to have instead of sitting on the bed all the time. I have a wall desk with built-in drawers and a lighted mirror. A large flat-screen tv with a built in DVD player is a nice touch. And the built in closet with shelves and drawers, and two night stands with drawers should fit all my clothes just fine.

My valuables are locked in my safe, though I haven’t really unpacked yet. I’ve only unpacked my toiletries. The medicine cabinets are huge and very practical, though they aren’t like any I’ve seen before. I’ll take photos of all this when I can. I’m not really ready to unpack yet. I have a feeling they might be moving me to another room once we get to Barcelona because I’m really just supposed to get a room with a large window, not necessarily a balcony. But maybe I’ll will them to let me stay here by unpacking and getting all settled in, eh?

So Monday night (first night), I sat on the balcony for a good half hour letting it sink in that I’m actually doing this. That the day has come. But I don’t think it fully sank in. I wanted to go upstairs for the “sail away” event but was waiting for my luggage to be delivered so I could change out of my airplane attire. I abandoned the idea of waiting after an hour and headed upstairs to the poolside. We left Miami at 7pm (an hour behind schedule) after waiting for some late passengers. I was back in my room by the time we left and didn’t even realize we were moving. But we were off!!

Chef Kelly called and said to meet her at 8pm for a dinner date at Red Ginger, the Asian restaurant. At 7:52pm, my luggage still wasn’t here, so I couldn’t change clothes. I was worried I wasn’t to dress code (had on denim capris and flip flops), but I went anyway. It was so great to see Chef Kelly, as she was the first familiar face I’d seen since Paul dropped me at the airport. We sat down for my first meal of the day, and I let her do all the ordering for us. She ordered the assorted sushi plate, crispy calamari, and dragon shrimp for appetizers; red chicken curry, miso glazed sea bass, and lobster pad thai (Paige, you would have died over this) for mains; ice cream trio, vanilla-pear cake, and soft serve ice cream with chili salt for dessert. It was all great, but my favorites: sea bass, lobster pad thai and soft serve with chili salt, oh and the pear cake :) We also had a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. Yumm-O. The server brought out a beautiful display box of chop sticks that you choose from (I chose the white ivory ones). And the teas to choose from made me feel like royalty. I happily sipped on the White Ginger-Pear. Perfect.

As we sat at dinner, I could feel the motion of the ship. And was hoping I’d be okay and not get sick. When I got back to my room, my luggage still wasn’t here, so I decided to call. Sure enough, it was down in the crew area and they brought it up right away. Ahh…so great to see my stuff!!

I took a melatonin, set up my little desk fan that I packed, watched a little tv and probably fell asleep around 11:30pm (which was good, considering that’s 8:30pm in San Francisco). I dreamed that the ship was sailing in a brigade and racing other ships and trying to avoid each other, like bumper ships. Seeing how close they could get without actually touching. Like playing “chicken”?  haha! I guess that means I could call the game “Chicken Ship” haha!

Had a good first night’s sleep and woke up around 9:30am. We had a safety drill at 10:15am which included all the passengers going to their designated areas to get in the safety boats. Went fine.

My stand-up shower is pretty small and the knobs I haven’t quite figured out yet. It has a rain shower from the top as well as a hand held wand. I’ll have to shave my legs in the bath tub because the shower is too small. But that’s completely fine with me. Nothing wrong with having a deep lavish tub.

After I got ready this morning, I got a cappuccino from Giovanni, the Italian barista, as well as a tiny chocolate croissant, which are made daily on the ship between 3 and 6am, by Chef Olivio. Yummy. But I’m not allowed to have one again until next Tuesday. Just a rule I’m making for myself. Chocolate Croissant Tuesdays, so that every day doesn’t feel like Saturday. While having coffee, I met Dixie and Bud from Tucson, Arizona who are on their 37th(!) cruise, but first time on Oceania. Nice people.

At 1:00pm, I observed Chef Kelly's class on “Classic American Cuisine” with 24 students. It was interesting and fun. They made grilled lamb chops with blackberry compote and baked polenta and seared salmon with wasabi mashed potatoes and soy-sherry glaze. (I can do it!)

After the cooking class, I went to a spinning class at the gym, taught by Emilie (pronounced Amalie). It was my first time spinning in about a year. I told her to expect to see me a lot. All the exercise classes are free for me, $11 for passengers. I’m hoping I’ll be able to walk normally tomorrow. BUT GET THIS!! There were about 10 students in the class. About 15 minutes into it, a cute cabana boy comes walking in with a silver platter with neatly rolled up towels and a pair of silver tongs. He picks up a towel with tongs, unrolls it and hands it to me! ICE COLD HAND TOWELS?!?! YESSSSSSS!! He hands one to each person one-by-one. I am in awe! And I don’t know whether to show my true excitement or act like my gym at home does this, too. I opted for the former and gave him applause, and the rest of the class followed. It was great. THEN…he comes over to each person with a mister and gently mists us 3 or 4 times with cold water. Wow! Whoever thought of that personal touch is a freakin’ genius! Next came water bottles, Gatorade and Vitamin Water.

Chef Kelly and I met again for dinner tonight, and I had a little bit of paella, ½ grilled lobster tail, and maui onion soup. All was delicious. No dessert tonight.

I’m still trying to figure out the internet situation. Since there are two chef instructors currently on board, it’s a little confusing to them as far as the contracts and policy goes. So, for now, I’m typing this email in Word on my computer, then, I’m going to copy and paste it into an email. Internet is $1 per minute, so I won’t be checking email until we get to Savannah tomorrow and I can do it by phone. I’m a little upset about not having that connection to my family and friends, but I’ll get it worked out soon (I hope).

So far, I feel good about it. Honestly, the biggest adjustment in just this short amount of time is getting used to not checking my phone every time I come in the room. I’ve turned that off because roaming charges will apply. But it’s really weird being electronically disconnected. I keep my computer open in my room with all my photos playing randomly on my desk top. It’s cool in here, like my apartment in San Francisco, so I’m glad I brought my favorite sweat pants.

I miss being able to talk to everyone. I’ll be able to make some phone calls tomorrow while we’re in port between 8am and 5pm. Know I miss and love you all!